New Level Golf is suspending the sales of their products through wholesalers/club fitters effective 1/1/2021. I’m curious if this is due to the huge success of the DTC model during the lockdown or lack of sales through outside sources? Thoughts?
New Level Golf Suspends Sales Through Wholesalers & Golf Fitters
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While I am not the person to ever tell a company what is the correct business decision, I don’t agree limiting how people can see the equipment or be fitted for the equipment is not better then simply buying online with a 30 day money back guarantee. I know many times I have purchased things and didn’t return when I could because it wasn’t worth the time involved. Now, if I spent as much as it costs for a set of irons you bet I would spend the time. Just not a fan of this as a model.
I have some thoughts on the owner. He’s seemed to be a bit colorful on social through the years. I’ve never seen their club’s first hand. They look ok at first glance. Don’t mind the change to dtc if it means the brand survives. At the end of the day, more choices are a good thing regarding of how I fee about their owners.
I doubt it's anything more than what was mentioned on IG. It's really difficult to compete against well known names when there's a Callaway, Ping, Mizuno, etc., sitting next to your club in a fitting cart. If he can offer the same set of irons for $600 that might cost $1000 through a fitter, it gives a person more incentive to try them out. Plus, like Sub70, they have a really good demo program. I'd honestly be surprised if some of the other OEMs didn't start offering certain models DTC. If one good thing came out of the covid situation, it has shown how to really streamline businesses. The ones that do it best continue to thrive through the pandemic.
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There’s one reason this company will never be a huge success. The owner. He’s been a complete and utter bafoon on social media to the industry, customers, reviewers etc.
Never would wish anyone ill will or bad fortune. But I’m not surprised they are trying to find a new path and it’s been a tough go of it. There’s literally nothing Techy or even remotely innovative about their clubs or designs. (My opinion)
Never would wish anyone ill will or bad fortune. But I’m not surprised they are trying to find a new path and it’s been a tough go of it. There’s literally nothing Techy or even remotely innovative about their clubs or designs. (My opinion)
Their clubs have tested well but I have no way to verify that. I think that the 623-M Forged irons are really pretty. To have them customized and be $600 is really appealing as well.
Edit: I have no knowledge of the owner or his social media antics.
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I’ve had a few interactions with the owner on social and they were all great. He was attentive to my questions and willing to work with me on most options. I’ve not yet hit a New Level club though since the demo program isn’t available to us up North. I seriously considered these before going with my MP-18 SC’s. I just liked the lines of the Mizuno better.
But I agree, if anything positive has come from this COVID lockdown stuff is that there are ways to streamline and still be relevant and profitable, if you’re willing to be flexible.
But I agree, if anything positive has come from this COVID lockdown stuff is that there are ways to streamline and still be relevant and profitable, if you’re willing to be flexible.
My interaction with the owner was great. No issues. I have the 1126 in 5-7 that I just don’t like due to way to high ball flight, and the 902 in 8-PW that are very nice. I’m looking for new irons due to the mid irons and will have some these for a reasonable price after I get fit. The build quality and components seem to be very good.
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That's pretty much my thought. He can't act the way he does and expect complete success IMO.
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Based on this companies ownership and past I could see this being hurt feelings because some retailer is not pushing their brand hard enough in their opinion. Unfortunately no matter how good your product is everyone is making good products these days so relationships matter. My guess is this company does not have a lot of good relationships in the golf business.
Browns7213
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It's funny, small manufacturers dream of getting wide spread distribution to expose their brand to the masses. The challenge is always "how will it be treated once it gets there" and I'm guessing NL just wasn't getting in the mix enough with the big OEMs by club fitters.
For someone who doesn’t really know what happened on social media with the owner, what exactly has the owner done to put such a bad taste in many mouths about him?
Browns7213
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He plays the "woe is me" card ad nauseam, everyone is out to get him, David vs. Goliath, etc. Everyone know that's the case when you are a start-up in an established OEM market, he is just very abrasive in constantly making that obvious fact known. When he first launched NL I thought it was just another guy that was buying open blanks from China and marketing them, some will argue that is indeed the case, but if you read the guy's backstory it's quite remarkable what he has accomplished in the golf industry. IMHO, he would be better served by promoting what he has accomplished in the industry and why that lends credibility to his brand, but we all choose our own paths.
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Im not speaking for me or THP, just what some have said over and over. Its a brash reality and early on in Twitter it was really bad. A lot of walk backs and other things.
Then several months later saying people are overpaying for golf equipment.
Criticizing the way a golfer returned a demo club. Heck, he is probably right, but that stuff is in poor taste.
There is clearly a market for a brand like this and I am of the belief and always have been that choices are good for golfers. I think if you asked me personally, the martyr card getting played over and over again is tiring and kind of like a security blanket. He will find his way though.
DTC is probably their best path to success. Once a certain sales level is achieved maybe they can go back. I havent kept up with the owner comments but I dont like how some THP'ers take shots at someone who puts their money on the line to create a brand. Perhaps he is a jerk but jeez its not personal. It's business.
Eventually it all comes down to survival, if this is the path NL needs to survive who are we to judge? The only way we will know it will work is if they're still around and people are buying in 6 months, a year, longer.
I agree with the statement above about how this year has forced everyone to re-think how they do business, especially in any industry that has close contact with other people. A lot of businesses a no longer here because they couldn't adapt or were the wrong business to adapt.
I agree with the statement above about how this year has forced everyone to re-think how they do business, especially in any industry that has close contact with other people. A lot of businesses a no longer here because they couldn't adapt or were the wrong business to adapt.
i'm not equating quality, innovation, etc between the two, but it reminds me a bit of ben hogan golf. they came back, seemed to be making a push into retail, then pulled everything and went 100% dtc. it seems to have worked very well for them, so maybe nl can find success as well. personally i haven't hit any nl gear that i can recall. some of it looks good, a lot of it looks very generic and seems overpriced to me.
Ben Hogan also started a program where they were targeting specific retail fitters, hence the agreement with Club Champion so they are 'possibly' heading to a blended model with select 'box' store fitters but primarily DTC.
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Probably their best move was bringing their prices back in line with other DTC brands. They were ridiculous when he first started. Well over $1k. I never personally had any bad interactions with him but saw a lot of the just plain stupid and childish social media posts. I did have one set of their early irons (won in a social media contest) and they were ok at best IMO. Certainly nothing that could touch the Hogans or Mizunos I had at the time.
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I bought a wedge from them once. I just didnt' care for it, but I thought it was a well built club.
I've too been turned off by some of the social media interactions though. I think they'd be better off to just complain privately and work hard to prove people wrong.
I've too been turned off by some of the social media interactions though. I think they'd be better off to just complain privately and work hard to prove people wrong.
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I find it really interesting that NL considers a 'fitting fee' as a cost that ought to be removed from the buying purchase.
EB has always made it clear that he's going to do it his way without real concern about how it's presented and is 'against the world' in a lot of ways, but I don't understand not wanting his product in the hands of golfers at fitting locations. Let the best product win.
EB has always made it clear that he's going to do it his way without real concern about how it's presented and is 'against the world' in a lot of ways, but I don't understand not wanting his product in the hands of golfers at fitting locations. Let the best product win.